"And to-morrow have the whole household look on while the work is more thoroughly done!" "Is there no other way?" "None. This is the last hope; I shall try it." There was no elation in her voice at the danger she had escaped, no hope rising up now that she might go through her task in safety, no dread either of what she had to do, only stern determination, the chill of utter despair, ready to struggle but not to hope. She wrapped a shawl about her without the slightest appearance of haste, and stood still a little longer, more like a marble statue endowed with the power of motion than a breathing, living creature. "Are you going?" called Elsie. "Yes; I shall not be long--not long." But Elsie rushed after her and caught her in her arms. "Every moment is worth a whole life," cried Elizabeth. "Let me go!" She forced the girl to release her hold, and with one feeble wail Elsie fell senseless to the floor. "Better so," muttered Elizabeth, "better so!" The excitement she was laboring under gave this woman new strength. She raised the insensible girl, carried her through the vacant chamber, and laid her on the bed in her own room. She drew the bedclothes over her inanimate form and turned away. "Now for the end," she murmured, "the bitter, bitter end." She went back to her own room, closing the doors after her, then, without further delay, passed down the private staircase which led to the little entry off the library. Once on the stairs she paused to listen, but there was no sound, and she hurried on noiseless as a spirit. One of the shutters was ajar, admitting a few gleams of light, by which she could see to unbolt the door. She was out in the air at last; the first step was taken in safety--in her turn she flew towards the cypress tree. She was under its shadow, the branches writhed and moaned like living things, the moon shot in and out of the gathering clouds, and cast a flickering, uncertain light about that was more terrible than the deepest gloom. As she stood in the depth of the shadows, a man came out from the thick darkness that lay under a neighboring clump of white pines, and drew close to her. "I have been here some time," he whispered. "Everything is ready out yonder--rather rough work for a gentleman, but take it as a proof how ready I am to help you, even after all the money is paid in. But do you know that Mellen has been here?" "I saw him--I know it; we have no time!" "Fortunately, he will know why the earth is broken up, having done it with his own hands," said the man, with a suppressed laugh, that made Elizabeth shudder. "Better still, he has left the spade--threw it down in angry disappointment. That is fortunate, for mine was partly disabled out yonder: now show me the exact spot."